The present invention relates to a circulating-type bank note handling apparatus which utilizes bank notes that have been previously deposited by customers as payable bank notes, and more particularly to a bank note handling apparatus in which conveying routes for various units are formed in a linear configuration having few branch passages.
In a conventional automatic teller machine, an arrangement is adopted in which, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 62-115593, usable bank notes among those deposited by customers are circulated for use as payable bank notes to be dispensed. In an automatic teller machine having such a structure, the denomination and authenticity of a bank note and the extent of any damage to which it has been subjected are checked, together with discrimination of its obverse and reverse sides and so on, by a single discriminating unit provided in a conveying passage. This checking and discrimination procedure is conducted at the time of depositing, return of deposited money, withdrawal, loading of bank notes, collection of bank notes, and similar transactions.
As a modification of this type of automatic teller machine, the machine disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 62-67694 is arranged such that two discriminating units are respectively provided in a first position and a second position, and, in the former, the geometric nature of bank notes is the main item checked to allow those bank notes which cannot be identified to be discharged in advance, and information related to the authenticity, the denomination, etc., of bank notes is checked in the latter unit.
In such conventional systems, the arrangement is such that respective units such as the paying-in and paying-out means and the bank note stacking means are connected to each other by means of conveying passages with one or two discriminating units being used. Since the conveying passages tend to be long and have many curved portions, the efficiency of the assembled units is poor, and since there is substantially no linearity in the conveying passages, it has been difficult to remove bank notes when any trouble occurs.